The D.C. Circuit has ruled that the Trump administration failed to prove "irreparable harm" from removing the President's name from the Kennedy Center while the full appeal plays out.
A three-judge panel of the appeals court determined that lawyers for the President and the Kennedy Center did not sufficiently demonstrate that irreparable harm would occur if the name stayed off the facade, website, and materials during the ongoing challenge to a lower court order.
The ruling is the latest chapter in a long-standing dispute over President Trump's efforts to revitalize the Kennedy Center, a once-failing national institution.
The controversy began when Obama-appointed U.S. District Judge Christopher R. Cooper blocked President Trump from temporarily closing the Kennedy Center for critical structural renovations and ordered his name removed from the building within weeks.
The 36-member Kennedy Center Board of Trustees had unanimously voted to add "TRUMP" to the name in honor of his leadership in securing more than $257 million for desperately needed renovations, but Judge Cooper overruled the decision.
The lower court had found no proof that current or future donations depended on President Trump's name remaining on the building, and the appeals court reinforced this decision, rejecting claims that removing Trump's name would significantly damage the Kennedy Center's fundraising efforts.
The judges wrote that the administration presented only conclusory statements from the Center's executive director without specific factual evidence supporting claims of financial harm.
The appeals court also declined to consider a new argument regarding a fundraising entity called the "Trump Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts Foundation," noting that the contention had not been presented before the district court and therefore could not establish an abuse of discretion on appeal.
Tarps and scaffolding remain in place, and the full appeal continues, with the Trump administration facing an uphill battle to restore the President's name to the Kennedy Center.
